He wore that dubious shirt while playing congas in the music video for The Beach Boys' 1988 chart-topping single "Kokomo." "I don't know where the hell I got that tank-top," the actor/musician jokes over the phone. "If I ever see the person who made me wear that I'm going to give them my two cents."

At age 50, Stamos remains unfairly handsome. He's been performing with The Beach Boys off-and-on since the mid-80s and will be with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group – known for sun-pop hits including "California Girls," "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "Good Vibrations" - at their 7:30 p.m. July 10 Von Braun Center Mark C. Smith Concert Hall concert. Tickets ($54 - $79) are available via the VBC Box Office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com or by phone at 800-745-3000.

Stamos plays drums for about half The Beach Boys' show. He moves to congas for tunes such as "Kokomo," "Disney Girls," "Then I Kissed Her" and "Sail On, Sailor." He also plays guitar and sings on a few numbers, notably "Forever," a lovely ballad Stamos memorably performed with The Beach Boys on an episode of "Full House," the ABC sitcom he starred-in from 1987 to 1995 as flamboyantly coifed musician, DJ, club owner and hot uncle Jesse Katsopolis.

"'Forever,' which is a Dennis Wilson song, is really beautiful," Stamos says, referring to the late Beach Boys original member, "and the crowd really seems to like because of the 'Full House' connection.

"I'm in a very enviable position and love (The Beach Boys are) so open with me and allow me to play different things. Mike (Love, Beach Boys singer and co-founder) really likes to keep it fresh, so he plays around with the set-list every night. So you never quite know ... And that's what's fun for me.

A day before departing for promotion for his upcoming comedy feature film "My Man Is a Loser," which opens July 25, and a run of Beach Boys performances, Stamos takes a break from tending to the garden at his Beverly Hills, Calif. home to call in for this interview.

John, a lot of music fans are familiar with The Beach Boys biggest hits and the "Pet Sounds" material. But what's an underrated Beach Boys song you really enjoying performing with the band?

They've been doing "Wild Honey," which Mike and Brian (Wilson, Beach Boys singer, pianist and co-founder) wrote and (current drummer) John Cowsill sings it great. Carl Wilson originally sang it. And I remember in the old days when Carl was alive we played it a few times, and I thought, "Wow. That's such a great song and we'll never hear it again." But Mike co-wrote it so we've been playing it a bunch lately.

When you return to performing with The Beach Boys after being away from the band for a bit, what's the most difficult thing about getting back in the groove musically and what's the easiest?

Well trusting the music is the easiest thing and trusting myself, because I started playing in the live shows with them around '84, I think, so sometimes you just trust your instincts. No matter how hard you practice at home and get your chops up, there's nothing that prepares you for a 10,000 seat (venue) and sometimes I'll go months without playing with them, and then this particular run our first show is Jones Beach, which I think is 15,000 or 20,000. No matter how much you play drums before, it takes a few shows to get your chops back, for sure. There's no rehearsing for stadiums. [Laughs.]

You've zigzagged between music and acting for a long time. How does your work in one of those inform what you do in the other?

I use a lot of rhythm in my acting. Certainly comedy or even drama, there's a certain sense of pace and rhythm that I see that I use and I see other actors use in scene work. Some scenes are musical to me. There's a sense of rhythm certainly and musicality to them, so that's what I think I take from both.

If we were looking at your record collection when you were growing up, besides The Beach Boys what else is in there?

Well, I was always in a battle with my dad, who was better, Elvis Presley or Frank Sinatra. So he really turned me on to a lot of the other guys, so you'd see a lot of Sinatra and Dean Martin and Rat Pack stuff. My early years ... Beatles. I grew up on a lot of classic rock stuff.

What do you remember about the "Kokomo" music video shoot? It can be something, cool, funny, weird ...

It's all weird! We were doing a special and the main thing was we were doing a version of "Wipeout" with the Fat Boys, who were a rap group. And it was at the Grand Floridian at Disney World, and what I remember too is we were like the first guests to stay in that hotel. We were their experiment - like they were trying out foods on us and still training staff. So we were doing this ABC special and it was this last minute thing: "Hey can you guys just run 'Kokomo' real fast. We'll put up a couple cameras ..." It really wasn't part of the plan for the day, and we just kind of threw it up there and did it maybe twice. It started raining and we went back to the hotel. And that was it.

Do you still have the Elvis jumpsuit you wore as Jesse on "Full House" by any chance?

[Laughs.] No I don't it. I can't say yet, but I just did something that I'm really excited about for Graceland. I think we might have rented that suit. I do have a lot of "Full House" memorabilia. I have the jukebox and a lot of the clothes and vests and stuff that we wore.

My plan always was with The Beach Boys on "Full House" was to bring them on and turn a younger audience on to The Beach Boys. How do I get their great music out to a younger generation? I mean, I got turned-on by an eight-track, "Endless Summer."

Earlier you mentioned some of your clothes from "Full House." You also had some memorable haircuts. Which makes me wonder, how much does John Stamos pay for a haircut these days?

I've paid a lot over the years and I've paid very little. You can tell by old pictures. [Laughs.]

OK, how much is too much to pay for a haircut?

What do you think?

I think I'm wondering if you pay over or under $99 for a haircut.

I think under. And you know what else? I've never told anybody. I've got a pair of thinning shears and sometimes I just go hacking at my hair myself. I bring them on the road with me and I just cut my own hair.

I've read Keith Richards cuts his own hair, so you're in good company.

Does he really?

Yeah, that's what he's said in interviews, and his reason is he's fearful of Delilahs. You have something like 1.4 million followers on Twitter which is approximately double the combined population of Huntsville, Birmingham and Montgomery. What's the most unusual gift, autograph request or letter you've received from a fan recently?

Hmmm. I get a lot of weird things. [Laughs]. But (Bob) Saget and I were just in Laguna Beach at the same hotel and we were in the restaurant and a lot of people were taking pictures and stuff. And we're always pretty nice. There was a family of like five or six and they kind of kept talking to us and interrupting and Bob was ... We were trying to talk about some serious matters. And they left and we asked the waiter nicely, "Can we just have like 20 minutes?" And then she said, "We'd like to tell you that table just bought your entire dinner." Oh, let's take more pictures with people.

That was very nice of them. It's very interesting. I've been around since I was about 18 and I've seen the changes in fans and social media and meeting people and it's fascinating. And I mostly enjoy it. Because I love meeting people. But the difference is everybody has a camera now because of that phone, although I'd almost rather take a picture than sign an autograph because that seems like something people can keep and put up on their Facebook or Twitter. Sometimes it's trying and difficult. But I think I'd be more upset if they weren't asking for pictures, you know?